Modern Drummer Magazine
1929–2020
In hindsight, Charli Persip uttered perhaps the most unintentionally comical two words of his life when landing the biggest connection of his drumming career. In 1953, the upcoming drummer was playing in the house band at the Piccadilly nightclub in Newark, New Jersey, where jazz trombonist Bennie Green was booked as a special guest star. The set swung hard. Impressed with Persip’s talents, Green pressed a note into the drummer’s palm, telling him to call the scribbled phone number. Green neglected one detail: whose number it was.
Following up on the connection, Persip dialed and asked whom he was speaking to. The voice on the opposite end of the line answered, “It’s Dizzy.” Flummoxed, Persip sputtered the comical two words: “Dizzy who?” The respondent an idol of Persip’s answered, “Dizzy Gillespie.”